excrete
Americanverb (used with object)
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excretes,
present (3rd person singular)
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excreted,
past participle, past
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excreting
present participle
verb
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to discharge (waste matter, such as urine, sweat, carbon dioxide, or faeces) from the body through the kidneys, skin, lungs, bowels, etc
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(of plants) to eliminate (waste matter, such as carbon dioxide and salts) through the leaves, roots, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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excretesimple
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excretessimple
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have excretedperfect
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has excretedperfect
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am excretingprogressive
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are excretingprogressive
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is excretingprogressive
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have been excretingperfect progressive
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has been excretingperfect progressive
Past
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excretedsimple
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had excretedperfect
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was excretingprogressive
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were excretingprogressive
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had been excretingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of excrete
First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin excrētus “sifted out,” past participle of excernere “to sift out, separate,” from ex- ex- 1 + cernere “to decide, separate, sift”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Your body also produces about 700 milligrams of sulfites daily as you metabolize the protein in your food and excrete it as sulfate.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 2024
The body can then easily excrete the metals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2024
Professor Tang's research introduces CAR-T cells that excrete the IL-10 molecule, which is then ingested by the modified T cells.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 4, 2024
A handful of labs are studying bats from other genera, and initial findings suggest they have varying abilities to excrete and transmit the pandemic virus.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 4, 2023
He says it helps the body excrete stress hormones.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
They discovered N. intermedia produces and excretes many enzymes as it grows.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2024
She added that researchers have yet to find a species that, when infected, excretes much live virus in its feces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2023
This is because the body excretes it too quickly to metabolize it, too tough even for the bacteria in our guts to break it down.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2023
It excretes a sticky substance called honeydew that can collect on outdoor furniture.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
“He excretes in prodigious amounts, Karen, not seen on the earth since prehistoric times when dinosaurs let fly,” Ben said.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
He explains that if you eat too much, it has to be excreted by the kidneys and liver which can become overloaded.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
One of those compounds was probenecid, a medication originally introduced in the 1940s to help conserve scarce supplies of penicillin by reducing how much of the antibiotic was excreted in urine.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026
“Most of it doesn’t get metabolized, meaning that we don’t extract energy from it, and it passes through and is excreted in the stool,” Fetter said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026
Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose are not metabolized by the human body so they are excreted – this is what makes them low-calorie sugar alternatives.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2024
To the guards who walked up and down outside, each car became a single organism which ate and drank and excreted through its ventilators.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
Camels help it spread by eating the pods and excreting them far and wide.
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025
He was excreting things he had never seen in his stool before and feeling things he had never felt before.
From Salon ● May 18, 2025
Researchers have long known that mammals and birds can play a key role in spreading seeds, often by eating fruit and then excreting the seeds.
From Science Magazine ● May 8, 2024
This work supports other published studies demonstrating associations between dogs being fed raw meat and excreting resistant E. coli.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2023
I would have felt nervous excreting stress hormones in front of someone else, but not Sohrab.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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